Within a Shadow's Footsteps
by LadyEmber
Summary: What if Naruto wasn't as nice as everyone thought... What if he liked Sasuke... What if, he was banished? dark!Naruto. NaruSasu slight at beginning


_Okay, here's something new, yet again._ _I think this may be evidence that I am more productive at home than at school. _

_**Note:** I would just like to add that I'm sorry that I have just utterly messed up the whole blonde/blond rule...I'm sorry, for the moment I just can't see the distinction, plus the different spellings between the two has basically become blurred, with 'blonde' becoming the more accepted and generally used descriptive...  
_

**Warning:** Contains **slight NaruSasu**, near misssable.  
Yet this may become more prominent in any future chapters I may attempt...

Disclaimer: **ME NO OWN!

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"Banished"

The word was reverberating throughout my skull

'_Banished'_. But why? What had I done?

'_**Banished'**_

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Naruto walked slowly from the Hokage tower, the old man had been unable to change the council's minds. The young blonde frowned in aggrivation, and let out a whisper of a sigh before a maliciously feral smirk adorned his face. He had until nightfall to leave…

Slipping into the nearby shadows he ducked into the side streets and dark alleyways, following the twisting path homeward. It was time for him to start his final preparations for the ultimate and final Uzumaki Naruto leaving present.

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Once his preparations had been completed Naruto casually made his way towards his chosen stage. He then proceeded to set several timers in innocuous places around the site before leaving. Throughout it all he had remained carefully hidden, a dark blur of slight movement, mistaken for a breath of wind.

* * *

It was only near nightfall that Naruto found himself hesitating. His shadowed eyes were captured with the sight of the pale moonlit skin of his love, whose black hair was ruffled by a slight breeze that passed through the open window. Nightmares plagued him with a restless sleep, his small body tossing and turning at the violent, bloodstained images that plagued his dreams.

The empty house seemed to creak and moan along with its troubled master, either in mockery or sympathy towards the young Uchiha.

- -

Suddenly he jerked awake, body upright with muscles locked in place, quivering muscles held himself in place. His body was covered with a faint sheen of sweat, shimmering within a pale beam of moonlight that pierced through the open curtains, and he gulped desperately for air. Shaking limbs were forgotten as sharingan eyes receded, unknowingly unlocked by previous tragedies best left in his nightmares. His now black eyes gazed fixedly out of his window to a now empty tree branch, had he seen…?

His mind must surely have been playing tricks; for Naruto, fun-loving, blonde, idiotic Naruto couldn't have been looking at him with such tender eyes, could he? The young Uchiha decided he would talk to the blonde in the morning.

He settled back onto damp sweat-soaked sheets, his breathing calmed and drifted into a fitful slumber, the sharingan-glimpsed image of Naruto would be with him forever, seemingly burned into the inside of his eyelids. Yet it was forcefully pushed to the back of his confused and troubled mind for the night, he would have time enough in the morning to ponder the mystery that was Uzumaki Naruto, confront him in the light of day. Little did he know that it would be longer than a few hours before he could finally face the blonde again.

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It was with only a small bag of belongings strapped to his orange-clad back that Naruto arrived at the gate with.

Glancing towards the two chuunin who were on gete-keeper duty he walked up to them quietly, careful to keep his movements slow, unthreatening and sloppy. It would be foolish for him to even hint at his expertise and proficiency in the ninja arts just as he was leaving.. it would spoil his later surprises.

"May I sign out, my first and last time?" Innocent cerulean eyes gazed up at the guards, and although he addressed the guards respectfully, his gaze was deceptively watchful as he focused upon the duo. One looked about to protest, white eyes and a sneer being the most predominant features upon his face until his partner, a brown-haired woman stopped him with a firm tap upon his shoulder. Turning her gaze upon the young blonde she smiled gently at him before replying,

"Of course Uzumaki-san" before passing him her own pen.

She stared sadly after the small boy once he was gone before glancing down at his entry in the book, ink still wet.

'_Naruto Uzumaki Kazama'_

"Oh shi-"

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Naruto had always known about his true heritage, he would have been an absolute idiot not to have seen the resemblance between himself and the 4th Hokage, Kazama Arashi.

Walking away from the bright lights he gazed at the burning orbs that were reflected within the slightly tarnished metal that adorned Iruka's old headband. The dancing lights looked so like the fires that the old man had near continuously preached about, the blue eyed boy decided.

He dropping the dull metal carelessly to the ground, uncaring that it now lay abandoned upon the dusty road. Instead Naruto continued at an unhurried pace, a dark smirk blooming across his face at the first explosion that rocked the silence of the quiet village behind him, now merely a smudge upon the horizon at his back.

Man, he loved exploding tags.

Chuckling to himself he gazed calmly up at the clear night sky, ignoring the flaming blooms that mottled the dark skyline behind him. A thoughtful frown adorned his face, as if pondering some great puzzle.

Part of the thrill, he decided, was knowing that children would cry in the morning.

Life's tough.

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_Okay, before I get any complaints I wish to apologise for Naruto's 'innocent request' at the gate. Sickened me to write it I must admit, was so absolutely, utterly and disgustingly out of character I ended up stopping there and spending near half an hour trying to sort it out.  
But as you can see, it utterly failed. So you're stuck with it. Can't wait to bring on the new Naruto in the next chapter. I was gonna just have this as a one-shot but now I'm not too sure._

_I'ma gonna see what Valentine thinks of my next chapter and any further ideas before I commit to writing another multi-chaptered story, if you check my profile you'll see that I have quite a number of unfinished ones, so updates shall probably be even slower as I'm trying to work on each of them and plot bunnies keep attacking my brain!_

_Not a good situation to be in, let me assure you._

_But yeah, let me know if I would have any support if I did carry on with this one…_

_**Ember out **_

_**ja ne  
**_


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